Pool Profitability
Revenue-generating ideas to help keep your budget afloat
By Stacy St. Clair
Hyland Hills Water World knows what it takes to keep patrons coming back. The Colorado facility's creativity and keen business sense has helped it become the nation's largest publicly owned waterpark.
The 64-acre site has 42 attractions and 25,000 square feet of shaded structures. The park—which has won numerous awards for design and innovation—is the birthplace of the family water ride and the first themed, partially in-the-dark water ride.
The management adds a feature almost every year, including Storm in 2003. The million-dollar ride replicates a torrential downpour with amazing sound effects, replicas of toppled buildings and simulated thunder, lightening and wind.
Hyland Hills Park and Recreation officials came up with the concept during a brainstorming session with staff. The slide was then custom-built in keeping with their stormy theme.
"We're always looking at the industry and seeing what other parks are doing," says Joann Saitta, the district's marketing manager. "We've got some very creative people on our staff, and everyone's ideas are taken seriously."
The attraction, which proved wildly popular this past summer, is 700 feet long with a 60-foot vertical drop. It can handle nearly 1,000 people per hour.
The facility's commitment to new offerings has been enhanced by forward-thinking, cost-saving designs. The Storm, for example, was strategically placed to leverage the natural elevation and curvature of the land.
Officials intentionally built redundancy into a nearby pump so the ride easily could tap into to the pumps and share water with another attraction. The plan conserved roughly 150,000 gallons of water last season.
"That was a huge savings for us," Water World General Manager Steve Loose says.
The park's water conservation program is one of the most aggressive in the country. The rides have splash guards to keep water from spilling out, and the district has planted low-water use perennials in its award-winning floral displays.
"By saving water, we're saving money," Loose says.
As such, the park has become the conservation model for North American waterparks. It's a role Hyland Hills officials take seriously.
"We want to set the tone," Saitta says.
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